No / Organizations in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector are increasingly collaborating with other organizations to mutually raise overall joint value created. However, literature on inter-organizational collaborations in the NFP sector lacks a clear, empirically proven understanding about which factors drive such joint value creation and whether and how these factors and their effects differ for the two parties involved. Based on the relational view and an analysis of 121 partnership dyads, we identify that some factors governing the successful creation of joint value differ for the two partners while others are relevant to both parties. Those latter factors, in turn, differ in their effects on the respective outcome.

Sociala medier har blivit en stor del av människors vardag och ger därmed en stor möjlighet för organisationer och företag att nå ut till fler människor. Trots att organisationer har haft några år på sig att hitta strategier anpassade till just sociala medier så är det fortfarande många som ser det som ytterligare en kanal till att endast informera och marknadsföra istället för att använda det till att skapa relationer med publiken. Den här uppsatsen har därför som syfte att undersöka hur Friends, som är en icke-vinstdrivande organisation, kommunicerar på Facebook för att bygga och vårda relationer med deras publik. En relation mellan organisation och publik grundas ur ett gemensamt intresse för varandra och ett ömsesidigt engagemang. Studien utgår från teorier kring sociala medier, engagemang, dialog och relationsskapande kommunikation för att skapa en större förståelse för hur en icke-vinstdrivande organisation använder Facebook som en relationsskapande kommunikationskanal. De metoder som använts i studien är en kvantitativ innehållsanalys för att få en övergripande bild över innehållet på Friends Facebook-sida och på vilket sätt det engagerar publiken och en kvalitativ innehållsanalys för att djupare analysera hur Friends kommunicerar för att skapa relation och engagera publiken och hur de hanterar dialogen i kommentarsfältet. Med hjälp av metoderna har Friends Facebook-sida studerats i form av inlägg, kommentarer till inlägg, gillningar, delningar och bemötandet av kommentarer. Resultatet av analysen visar att Friends till viss del använder Facebook för att nå ut med information kring organisationen och dess syfte, men att de även till stor del anänder Facebook för att engagera publiken på olika sätt. Detta görs genom att bland annat uppmana publiken att själva gå ut och bidra till ett bättre samhälle och genom underhållande och glädjande budskap som är kopplade till organisationens värderingar. Friends använder sig av många relationsskapande element i inläggen som att tacka och uppmärksamma publiken, personliga tilltal och omtal samt värdeladdade ord. De bemöter också olika typer av kommentarer på ett sätt som är anpassat till kommentaren vilket gör att de efterliknar en riktigt dialog. I de flesta svar använder Friends ett personligt bemötande och en personlig signatur som underlättar för fortsatt dialog. / Social media has become a big part of people's daily lives and therefore provides a great opportunity for organizations and businesses to reach out to more people. Although organizations have had a few years to find strategies adapted to social media, there are still many who see it as another channel to merely informing and market instead of using it to create relationships with the audience. This essay aims therefore to examine how Friends, who is a non-profit organization, communicate on Facebook to build and nurture relationships with their audiences. A relationship between the organization and the audience are based on a shared interest in each other and a mutual commitment. The study is based on theories of social media, engagement, dialogue and relationship-building communications to create a greater understanding of how a not-for-profit organisation use Facebook as a relationship-building communications channel. The methods used in the study is a quantitative content analysis to get an overall picture of the content of Friends Facebook page and the way it engages the audience and a qualitative content analysis to deeper analyze how Friends communicates to create relationship and engage their audience and how they handle the dialogue in the comment field. With the help of the methods, Friends Facebook page where studied in the form of posts, comments to posts, likes, shares, and answers to comments. The results of the analysis show that Friends partly are using Facebook to reach out with information about the organization and its purpose, but also use Facebook to engage the audiences in different ways. This is done by, among other things, encourage the audience to go out and contribute to a better society themselves and through entertaining and gratifying message that is linked to the organization's values. Friends uses many relationship-building elements in posts like giving thanks and recognize the audience, personal addressing and emotionally charged words. They also treat different kinds of comments in a way that is tailored to the commentary, which means that they mimic a real dialogue. In many of the comments Friends uses a personal approach and a personal signature that facilitates continued dialogue.

This is a study of several contentious issues in Canadian health policy involving the interaction of public and private payers and for-profit (FP) and not-for-profit (NFP) providers; the influence of health professionals on market structure; and the role of foreign investment. A case study was used, the Ontario physiotherapy market in 2003-2005, with its complex mix of payers and providers and foreign investment opportunities. Key market features were: fragmented but substantial payer influence, effective though uncoordinated cost control across payers, constrained labour supply, and fragmented patient referral sources. These features increased the complexity of providers’ interactions with patients and payers, reducing standardization and therefore favouring local, professional-owned small business FP providers (FP/s) for ambulatory care. NFP Hospitals’ market share declined. The findings generally confirmed expected behavioural differences between FP and NFP providers but expected differences between investor-owned FP providers (FP/c) and FP/s providers were not generally found. FP/s dominated the market, and FP/c providers appeared to mimic FP/s market behaviours, competing in local sub-markets. With no single or dominant payer, cost control difficulties were expected, but all 11 payer categories (public and private) used various cost control mechanisms, resulting in significant collective but uncoordinated influence. Generally, no payer alone supported a provider’s operations. The dominant labour suppliers, regulated physiotherapists, were scarce and exerted significant pressure, affecting market structure by asserting individual preferences and professional interests. FP/s dominance resulted, supported by the traditional patient referral source, physicians in small practices. Very little foreign investment was found despite little protection for domestic providers under NAFTA. In sum, this study showed FP and NFP provider stereotypes are subject to payer pressure: FP/c organizations can adapt by mimicking FP/s, and payers can modify NFPs’ assumed community orientation. Labour shortages and historical referral patterns can make individual professionals and their preferences more influential than their collective profession without diminishing the importance of professional interests. The degree and structure of payer control can make a market unattractive to foreign investors. Finally, this market – neither a planned or standard market – had a service provision pattern more broadly influenced by professionalism and practitioner interests than policies or prices.

Lean together with Toyota shocked the world when it came out. It turned a devastated company into the top car manufacturer. Ever since, the concept of lean has been implemented in companies outside of Toyota, industries outside of the car manufacturing industry and even in the public sector. The non-profit sector suffers problems of inexperienced leaders and economic problems according to theory which is hoped to be solved using lean. It has yet to be properly been introduced into non-profit organizations which this study aims to do. Previous research regarding an implementation of lean in an NPO is almost non-existing. Few instances where specific problems were solved using lean exist but nothing more. Implementing lean as it currently is does not fit well with the nature of non-profit organizations. Therefore, lean must be translated. To make up for a lack of previous research, the study collected qualitative data in the form of semi-structured interviews of eleven people within NPOs. Information regarding lean was gathered through a literature review. The study discovered that the problem regarding uneducated leaders was existent in most interviewed organizations while the economic problems wasn’t equally apparent. NPOs struggled with wastes due to lack of standardization since unpaid employees mostly help out during their spare time and leaders did not feel they could implement standardization and demands upon them. This and other conclusions constitute the answer to the research question with hopes to be a stepping stone to future research. Further research should focus on how to implement standardization while motivating unpaid employees.

This thesis examines decision making at executive level in Australian private hospitals as a social phenomenon, since individuals draw meaning from their own biographical and social environmental experiences. The researcher interpreted the constructed realities of the factors influencing executives' decisions within the context of private hospitals - a field that is rarely examined through the lens of social research. Using an Interpretivist research paradigm, the researcher conducted semi- structured and in-depth interviews with sixteen executive members who are experts in their field and represent both sectors of the private hospital industry: private for-profit and private not-for-profit. The data generated was transformed into technical accounts using an abductive research strategy and adopting Schütz's notion of first-order and second-order constructs. Using Giddens' Structuration Theory, that stressed the fundamental role of the human agent, the structure and their mutual dependence, the researcher moved beyond the interpretation of individuals' meanings, to incorporate the structure as an entity that can be formed and reformed. The researcher interpreted social actors' constructed meanings of these social phenomena in their work environment to form the elements of a two-dimensional decision making model at organisational level, incorporating the present with the future and the internal with the external factors. On an individual level, three different approaches to decision making were identified, based on whether executives perceived the decision making phenomenon as intuition, as a reasoned process or as an expected outcome. While being from a limited research sample, the findings of this study suggest that the paradox of mission / economic decisions restrained executives in the not-for-profit sector from strengthening their hospitals' financial performance, putting at risk, therefore, their ability to achieve social dividends as a way to proclaim their mission. On the other hand, in the for-profit sector, shareholders' dividends appeared to be a strong catalyst for attaining profit maximisation when making decisions. In both settings, the findings suggest that the role of stakeholder theory is questionable, particularly when executives remained hesitant to involve medical specialists, whom they considered to be major stakeholders and profit generators for private hospitals. This attitude appeared to be constant, despite the changes identified in executives' individual approaches to decision making. However, early signs of shifts towards adopting more commercially and socially accountable decisions were apparent in not-for-p rofit and for-profit sectors respectively. The thesis sets out recommendations to assist executives in managing the different factors that interplay to form executives' decisions. The importance of having a mission in business longevity and the integration, as opposed to alignment, of strategic goals with business operations when making executive decisions in private hospitals was highlighted. The implications for both sectors are described and recommendations for further research are suggested.

Despite their prevalence throughout the United States, summer camps are rarely considered as businesses or high-functioning not-for-profit entities. This paper explores the camping industry with a focus on not-for-profit camps. It adapts typical not-for-profit efficiency metrics to camps in order to demonstrate that powerful missions are not always enough to keep not-for-profits in operation. The paper examines two members of the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps which serve children with serious and life-threatening illnesses. Ultimately, this paper is a tool for donors to observe how organizational performance is a crucial factor when donating to organizations with similar mission.

This is a study of several contentious issues in Canadian health policy involving the interaction of public and private payers and for-profit (FP) and not-for-profit (NFP) providers; the influence of health professionals on market structure; and the role of foreign investment. A case study was used, the Ontario physiotherapy market in 2003-2005, with its complex mix of payers and providers and foreign investment opportunities. Key market features were: fragmented but substantial payer influence, effective though uncoordinated cost control across payers, constrained labour supply, and fragmented patient referral sources. These features increased the complexity of providers’ interactions with patients and payers, reducing standardization and therefore favouring local, professional-owned small business FP providers (FP/s) for ambulatory care. NFP Hospitals’ market share declined. The findings generally confirmed expected behavioural differences between FP and NFP providers but expected differences between investor-owned FP providers (FP/c) and FP/s providers were not generally found. FP/s dominated the market, and FP/c providers appeared to mimic FP/s market behaviours, competing in local sub-markets. With no single or dominant payer, cost control difficulties were expected, but all 11 payer categories (public and private) used various cost control mechanisms, resulting in significant collective but uncoordinated influence. Generally, no payer alone supported a provider’s operations. The dominant labour suppliers, regulated physiotherapists, were scarce and exerted significant pressure, affecting market structure by asserting individual preferences and professional interests. FP/s dominance resulted, supported by the traditional patient referral source, physicians in small practices. Very little foreign investment was found despite little protection for domestic providers under NAFTA. In sum, this study showed FP and NFP provider stereotypes are subject to payer pressure: FP/c organizations can adapt by mimicking FP/s, and payers can modify NFPs’ assumed community orientation. Labour shortages and historical referral patterns can make individual professionals and their preferences more influential than their collective profession without diminishing the importance of professional interests. The degree and structure of payer control can make a market unattractive to foreign investors. Finally, this market – neither a planned or standard market – had a service provision pattern more broadly influenced by professionalism and practitioner interests than policies or prices.

I compared forest structural parameters of treated and untreated plots on a forest restoration site on Galiano Island, British Columbia. The site was replanted with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (mirb.) Franco) after being intensively logged in the 1970s and then thinned in the early 2000s. I used existing baseline data from 8 permanent plots (5 treated, 3 control) and compared it with forest assessment data collected in the field in the summer of 2017. Additionally, I used 16 temporary plots (8 treated, 8 control). I assessed vegetation percentage cover by plot, coarse woody debris by plot, tree diameter, species and status (n = 846), height (n = 48) and diameter growth (n = 271). I found that treated plots showed improved measures of structural diversity like diameter growth, crown ratios and plant diversity, but I was unable to relate the increased diameter growth to the restoration treatments. My findings suggest that to create a lasting impact, restoration thinning will have to be more frequent or create larger gaps. I then reviewed the current studies with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in ecological restoration. I evaluated potential use of hobbyist UAVs for small organizations and not-for-profits and found that if applied correctly, UAVs can increase the amount of available data before, during and after restoration. Reproducible and reliable results require trained personnel and calibrated sensors. UAVs can increase access to remote areas and decrease disturbance of sensitive ecosystems. Regulations, limited flight time and processing time remain important restrictions on UAV use and hobbyist UAVs have a limit availability of sensors and flight performance. Finally, I used images taken from a hobbyist UAV to assess forest structure of the restoration site on Galiano Island and compared my results with the ground measurements. I found a canopy height model (CHM) from UAV images underestimated mean tree height values for the study site on average by 10.2 metres, while also severely underestimating mean stem densities. Using a 2 metre threshold, I delineated canopy gaps which accounted for 6 % of the canopy. UAV images and the resulting CHM represent a new visualization of the study site’s structure and can be a helpful tool in the communication of restoration outcomes to a wider audience. They are not, however, sufficient for monitoring or scientific applications. / Graduate

Plannings systems which can be considered as modules of an Enterprise Resource Planning system play a vital role in different types of organizations. The effects of the planning systems towards the Management Control Systems and organizational performance are less investigated in the context of not-for-profit/service providing organizations. This study sheds light on the effects of the planning systems on informal management controls and non-financial organizational performance by investigating the Swedish university sector through a case study performed at the Royal Institute of technology where the data were gathered using semi-structured interviews from different administrators using the planning systems. The study presents the effects of ten planning systems towards personnel controls, cultural controls and planning & decision making controls. It further examines how the planning systems affect the personnel development, workplace relationships, employee satisfaction and other type of organizational performance measures. In this endeavour, the results of this study shows how the personnel controls affects the personnel development, cultural controls affects the workplace relationships and planning & decision making controls affects the employee satisfaction, all in the light of different planning systems. Furthermore, it was also found out how different planning systems affect different organizational performance measures, namely, quality and efficiency of processes, quality of staff, employee health & safety, gender equality, premises and infrastructure, student attractiveness, quality assurance, research & education and external professional relationships. Finally this study generalizes the results found through investigating each planning system, which can be applied to the university sector/not-for-profit organizational sector in Sweden. / ME200X

Even when clean audit reports are issued for not-for-profit organizations (NFPOs), misuse of donor resources may continue for years without detection by financial statement users. Previous research has established creative accounting, haphazard reporting, and fraud among NFPOs. As a result, aid has been reduced and some projects have been suspended. With Uganda as the study area, the key research question was the following: What is the impact of financial reporting frameworks on the quality of financial reports in Uganda, controlling for class of external auditors? The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to establish whether reporting frameworks used by NFPOs in Uganda affect the quality of financial reports. Survey data through a researcher-developed instrument were collected from a purposefully selected sample of 74 NFPOs. Data included financial reporting frameworks as the independent variable, quality of financial reports as the dependent variable, and class of external auditors as a covariate. The data were analyzed using analysis of covariance. Dhanani and Connolly's accountability theory was adopted as the central theory. Findings indicated that there were no significant associations between financial reporting frameworks and quality of financial reports. The highest quality score was 25.2% with a mean of 15.6%, indicating poor NFPO quality reporting in Uganda. These findings support creation of a financial reporting framework for NFPOs. Such a framework could boost donor funding, uniform reporting, and standardized guidelines for external auditors, as well as increased transparency and government confidence in NFPOs.